The 2021-22 NHL season is underway! With that, the AHL season has also commenced, so the majority, if not all, of Islanders prospects, have started skating in competitive games. To continue the series looking at the Islanders’ 2021 NHL Draft class a little further, it is now time to dig into defenseman Tomas Machu, their seventh-round selection from this past season.

The 6’4″, right-shot defenseman Machu, 18, was born on March 2, 2003, in Ostrava, Czech Republic. He played for his youth team, HC Poruba U16/B U16 in the Czech U16/U16 2, from 2016-18, scoring five goals and adding 13 assists in 72 games. Ahead of the 2018-19 season, Machu went to the system of HC Vitkovice, scoring four goals and tallying 31 points in 37 games with their U16 team in the regular season, and six assists in six playoff games before getting called up to the U19 team for a playoff game, registering no points. He also scored a goal and four points in 12 games for the Czech U16 team.

Tomas Machu continued playing for HC Vitkovice in the 2019-20 season, making 10 appearances for the U17 team, scoring a goal and eight assists. He also skated in 38 games for the U20 team between the DHL Cup and DHL SuperCup, scoring one goal and 11 points. International play was also part of this season for Machu, as he skated in over 30 games for the Czech U17 team.

During the 2020-21 season, Machu was loaned out two times from HC Vitkovice, once each to HC Prerov and Draci Sumperk. Along with playing for HC Vitkovice’s U20 team and the top club, he combined for two goals and seven assists over 23 games and added one assist in two games for the Czech U18 team.

As of October 19, Machu has played for both HC Vitkovice’s U20 team and the top club, along with having a two-game loan at Draci Sumperk. He has tallied seven assists in 13 games across all three teams to begin his 2021-22 campaign.

For a second opinion, I once again reached out to Will Scouch. Scouch is a McKeen’s Hockey contributor and founder of Scouching, where he takes both aspects of the “eye test” and advanced analytics to give a different perspective on the game to fans, especially focusing on the draft. You can check out his scouting reports on Cameron Berg, Eetu Liukas, and Tristan Lennox in the previous articles in this series.

“Tomas Machu is an interesting one. He’s another one of these big and rangy project defenders that NHL teams are clamoring for in recent drafts. I’ve only been able to review his Extraliga tape, which is a difficult level of play for an 18-year-old, so that needs to be in mind when analyzing this 7th round pick. While his goal differentials have been poor, his shot attempt differential is among the best on his team. How has it been generated so far?

What Machu lacks in skill and finesse, he makes up for with simple but solid puck management, an underrated amount of off-puck speed in transition, and effective utilization of his reach on retrievals and simple transition breakups. His close quarters defending is still a work in progress, his shot isn’t likely to be a weapon, and he’s too easy to knock off pucks for someone his size (albeit at the pro level), but on the bright side, there’s a great frame to work with, and interesting creativity with moving pucks through the neutral zone to note. He’s a 7th round pick, but with his, if he can get stronger, add more layers to his skill and creativity and work on his close-quarters footwork, there might be something interesting in Machu.”

SEF